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posted by martyb on Saturday June 20 2020, @09:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the orc-lives-matter dept.

D&D Looks To Cut Down On Racial Differences Going Forward

Races and classes have been the central aspects of character creation since the beginning of Dungeons & Dragons – well, not quite the beginning, since Elf used to be a class in original D&D. However, based on a twitter thread by D&D's Jeremy Crawford, it looks like Wizards of the Coast will be moving toward less drastic racial mechanics, especially in regard to races traditionally considered "monster races."

Crawford pointed out the differences between the orcs found in Volo's Guide to Monsters and those found in the Exandria and Eberron settings, saying that the latter reflects the direction that the D&D team is headed in regard to monsters. The Exandria and Eberron orcs lack the -2 penalty to Intelligence and the required evil alignment. This reflects the fact that in these settings orcs are mostly considered another type of people – with all the varieties in personality and temperament that come with that – rather than fodder for player characters to fight.

[...] It is worth noting that this comes on the heels of a Twitter discussion on the racist history of orcs, initially spawned by a screenshot of the description of orcs in Volo's Guide to Monsters. Tolkien initially portrayed orcs as caricatures of Mongolians, and orcs have been racial stereotypes of other races over and over (see World of Warcraft or Bright). Dungeons & Dragons is not immune to this – even outside of the orc issue, races like the Vistani appear as Romani stereotypes.

Diversity and Dungeons & Dragons

Throughout the 50-year history of D&D, some of the peoples in the game—orcs and drow being two of the prime examples—have been characterized as monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated. That's just not right, and it's not something we believe in. Despite our conscious efforts to the contrary, we have allowed some of those old descriptions to reappear in the game. We recognize that to live our values, we have to do an even better job in handling these issues. If we make mistakes, our priority is to make things right.

See also: Dungeons & Dragons Designers Clarify How Gnolls Differ From Other D&D Creatures

Related: Gender and Appearance Stereotypes Travel to World of Warcraft


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  • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Sunday June 21 2020, @07:36AM (5 children)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Sunday June 21 2020, @07:36AM (#1010606)

    How to Destroy America [frostywooldridge.com]

    old article that is still as valid and insightful as it was the day it was written and Lamm's speech given.

    I always think of what Lamm said when I read about this or that company/group "Addressing Racial & Ethnic Issues"

    --
    "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 5, Touché) by loonycyborg on Sunday June 21 2020, @08:11AM (4 children)

    by loonycyborg (6905) on Sunday June 21 2020, @08:11AM (#1010609)

    Yep. America got totally invaded by foreign speakers. Its real languages has been mostly lost. This is totally evil. All speakers of English, Spanish, French etc don't belong there. They should return whence they came. And we should stop further immigration. If you want to stay you need to learn America's own language such as Apache or Navaho, depending on territory.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @12:00PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @12:00PM (#1010632)

      OK.
      What about Europe where the Caucasians are the native race? Do they get to kick out the invading races and should they stop taking them in? It's their continent, right? CRICKETS.

      • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @03:45PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @03:45PM (#1010676)

        First they have to play musical chairs, every group moving back to where they came from (NO ONE is native to their area in a really true sense). Eventually we'll all be converging to fight it out over Africa.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @04:33PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @04:33PM (#1010694)

      Why do you think the Mongoloids are more indigenous than Caucasoids? It's not true. Whites were everywhere first. Who in the fuck do you think built the pyramids all over the world? Aliens? The hunter gatherer Mongoloids who hadn't developed anything more than nomadic tribes? Wake the fuck up! The Mongoloids genocided the ancient Whites who were here already, and/or migrated in during the same time as the Mongoloids. Then they got genocided when the modern Europeans came in. This is how most borders were drawn in the past.

      This is covered up as a means to align all people against Whites to further (((their))) agenda for mongrellization of all races except their own. Read their own writings on the subject.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @05:09PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @05:09PM (#1010702)

        Next episode of Ancient Aliens.